The Tales We Tell
by Mesa4eva
Summary: Why is Joshua still alive? Why are the Visitors here? What does Marcus have against Joshua?
1. Chapter 1

Joshua looks out the window. He has been in his personal quarters for several days now. Marcus won't tell him what is going on. Anna is ignoring him. Now that is a surprise. He thought he would have been skinned alive by now. He has been given a new assignment. He's been trying to figure out how to combat the green-algae which has the ability to kill the Visitors. Scientists on Earth discovered the potentially deadly weapon. Not that anyone on Earth would be able to replicate the algae. All the scientists involved in the research have long since met their demise. Anna and Marcus saw to that. It won't be long until some other scientist finds a new way to kill the Visitors. Everyone has the potential to figure it out. Joshua was amazed that only a few of the Humans knew the truth behind the Visitor's skin. Then again, those who did know the true identity of the Visitors were killed. It was Anna's rule. Those that found out had to be killed. No Human could find out the truth. It was the same for the Visitors. Those that went against Anna's word, her rule, were to be killed. No one could go against Anna. He had been found out. He had been given a second chance. Samuel and the other's were not as lucky. Marcus had kept the truth from Anna. Marcus needed Joshua for something. He was told that all would be revealed soon.

Joshua walked the hallways of the New York mothership. Lisa was coming towards him. He saw her give a slight smile as she came up to him. "Joshua" Lisa acknowledged. "Lisa." He bowed his head. She was so lovely. So sincere, her emotions were starting to come through. "You're alive." "Yes." It was not like the two of them to have meaningful conversations. He had watched her from afar. He had known that he had no chance with her. They were both of noble blood but Anna outranked his father. Joshua's father had been a leading doctor back on their home planet. His father was a leading medical advisor to the ruling commanders, one who had come up with the cloning of human skin. It had been an important aspect of the Earth mission. Joshua had stayed up and listened to the conversations his father would have with the world leaders. He had known of the plan long before Lisa had even known that she would join her mother on the voyage. Lisa was young. She was not as worldly as he was. She had not known the truth. She was still unsure of what her mother's true plan was. She had not known about the soldiers. Not until after they had been birthed. She was coming around now. Joshua had made sure of that.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Joshua had been sent down to Earth to work in the Healing Centres. While the humans thought they were getting healed, the opposite was in fact true. Anna was tracking the humans who sought help. It was a blatant attempt by her to control the humans, to understand what they did during their day to day lives. All she had to do was give a flick of her hand and the information she was looking for would come to her. As Joshua worked on a small girl, he saw in her eyes the trust in which she placed in him. He wondered if all human children were like this one. Did they all trust like this? Did they always believe in hope? Joshua smiled as the girl skipped out of the door with her mother walking slowly after her. He wasn't as lucky as her mother, he was not a father and the chances were he never was going to be one. He sat down on the lone chair in the room. He put his head into his hands and thought about life as it had been. Why were they doing what they were doing? Why did his people go from planet to planet, destroying the habitat? He knew the answer to that.

His planet was being destroyed. Almost similar to how Earth was being destroyed. Habitation. It had happened so slowly that no one had really noticed. Sure, there had been warnings. Scientists on his planet had done studies. The studies had showed that there were problems with the atmosphere. Soon enough the temperatures had gotten warmer. It had taken over 20 years. The temperature had only risen by 2 degrees but it had been noticed. The world leaders were not happy. Nobody was happy. Orders had been sent to find a new planet to settle on. Unfortunately there were no planets which were as cold as his own planet but temperature was not the issue. It was the viability of the atmosphere. His planet was a death trap. The toxins in the air were becoming dangerous. The food levels were becoming minimal. They were in dire trouble. And so here they were...40 years later. In trouble.

Joshua looked up as a young woman entered the room. She was beautiful for a human, he supposed. She had the complexion of an angel, as they human saying went. She walked with grace. She introduced herself as Grace and sat down. He took her hand in his and felt for her pulse. It was an automatic reaction now. Checking the pulse of a human...it was a human thing to do. She looked like a nice girl but she would soon no longer exist, not really. Not as she had once lived.

Lisa looked out the window of the New York Mothership. It was an amazing sight, seeing the greenery below and the buildings which rose so high. It was amazing. She turned as Anna entered the room. "Mother," she nodded. "Lisa, how is Tyler settling in?" Ah, the questions. "Fine, he seems to be enjoying his time on the ship." She answered. She wondered when the experiments were going to start on him.

After his heavy day in the Earth Healing Centres Joshua was assigned night duty in the medical bay. The human experiments were progressing faster than he had thought they would. He was pulling double duty to prove his alliance to Anna. Amazingly, it was as if she had never known about the message Chad Decker had tricked Samuel and him with. It was as if that day had never happened. But he was not going to take any risks. He had to stay strong. He had the Fifth Column to think about. And by damn he was not going to let Anna win.


	3. Chapter 3

As Marcus paced the halls of the New York mothership, he was thinking about his next move. It was true that he had an ulterior motive. Anna was a strong woman but she was not the brightest. The only reason she had been sent on this mission was because those on their home planet wanted her out of the way. She was too ambitious and had too many opinions. Some of these opinions were not for the better of their people. She wanted to dominate. That was what she wanted. She wanted to be the ruling Queen. She wanted everyone to stop and listen to her. At the moment their people only stopped to listen to her and take her orders because of the Bliss. She had their people addicted to it. It was like a drug to them. But he was immune to it. He had brought Joshua back to life. He was an important medical scientist. It was true that Joshua was one of the smartest people he knew. Even for the age that Marcus was. Actually, Marcus wasn't too sure how old he was, not in Earth years anyway. The people on his planet did not count age in years. If that were true then he would have outlived most of the humans by now. Joshua would be middle-aged, he guessed. Actually, he would be younger. The Rulers had decided to guess the ages of those that they put the aged skin on. They had put Joshua as in his mid-thirties because of his position and knowledge and because he was an asset to the mission. Joshua held a lot of knowledge about his people, medically, scientifically and random facts that even Marcus did not know about. However, Joshua kept mostly to himself which made him an enigma of sorts.

Marcus had brought Joshua back because he would not have been able to forgive himself if he had let him die. Marcus owed Joshua a lot. In fact, Marcus held Joshua in the highest of esteems. It was hard not to, considering Joshua was Marcus's brother-in-law. It had been a sad day when his beloved had died. It had been an accident, so they had said. She was smart, possibly even smarter than Joshua. She had helped come up with the cloning of skin. She had been a scientist who had been an integral part of the mission and she would not be forgotten. It still niggled at his mind how she could have been so careless. He had to wonder if it had truly been an accident or whether there had been foul play involved. Perhaps he would never know the answer to that. It was not a commonly known fact, the relationship between Joshua and Marcus; they had agreed not to make a big deal out of it but had always agreed to watch out for each other. If Joshua had been a member of the Fifth Column, that was his choice. But he would not die on Marcus's watch, he would not allow it. It was the same in every family.

As Joshua went into his room, his own space, he wondered what the Resistance's next move would be. He could not afford to be careless but at the same time they counted on him. They knew he was alive, Lisa had mentioned it to Agent Evans. It was an interesting thing. The closeness that he and Lisa had built up over these past few weeks had been in his thoughts daily. It was true that he probably thought about it a lot more than he should. He was sure that Lisa was not thinking about him as much as he was thinking about her. It was impractical to have these ideas. He was a mere servant to Anna and would also be a servant to Lisa, when the time came. If the time came, that is. He was an honest soul. He knew the risks they were both taking by going against their own people. They were traitors. Not that Joshua saw it that way. He saw it as helping those who were the underdog. He didn't agree with the leaders. He was scared for the people of Earth. They did not know what the truth was and would not know until it was too late. The leader was a greedy soul. He wanted to take everything. He would not allow for them to leave any precious resource behind. Joshua paced his room. Well, you wouldn't call it a room if you were a human. It was scarce, bare of anything of real value. The bulkheads were white, there was a small bed and a cabinet with several of his personal belongings.

Marcus had asked to see Joshua and as Joshua walked to the conference room he wondered what the meeting would be about. "You are to return to your normal duties, as Anna's leading medical advisor." Marcus explained. "Why?" He asked. It was true that he was confused. "Anna does not know that it was you who betrayed her. She has no inclination that you or Samuel were behind the message sent to the Fifth Column on the ship. I have purposely kept that information from her and have told her that it was a human who snuck aboard and killed the guards. The letter that was sent to the medical bay was a mere diversion in order for her to think that there were more traitors on board. I want you to keep it that way. She must not know the truth or you will not only be skinned alive but tortured as well. Do you understand?" Marcus held a severe tone, one which could not be ignored. "I understand." Joshua exited the conference room feeling lighter than he had felt in weeks. So that was the reason he was still alive. Now he had to find the comms device and let the others on the ground know that he was alright.


End file.
